Xu Lian Blessed Land
Xu Lian didn't believe his eyes.
His blessed was shaking, the earth quaked and the wind wailed.
Long cracks spread throughout the landscape, forming many chasms and valleys.
Thick streams of earth qi rose from the depths.
The earth qi flowed and swirled towards the center like a huge vortex.
Even tears started to appear in the aperture walls, drawing in even more earth qi.
Xu Lian stood there dumbfounded, unsure what to do.
"I have failed this calamity... The heavenly judgment is here..." - Xu Lian closed his eyes and fell on his knees hopelessly.
He was powerless to do anything now. His blessed land was on the brink of a fatal cataclysm.
Then a burst of aura erupted.
"Immortal gu!" - Xu Lian opened his eyes in shock.
The headless corpse in front of him levitated up into the air. It was at the eye of the earth qi storm and the source of the immortal aura.
"How... Didn't he... What..." - His eyes were about to pop from their sockets in disbelief.
What was going on?
The mangled headless corpse rose higher in the air. There was a violent torrent of yellow qi engulfing it.
The earth qi accelerated. In the blink of an eye the torrents of earth qi merged in the middle.
The lingering Wood Spirit Charms had strands of yellow earth qi sucked away from them. Even the giant could not escape this. The Wood Spirit Charms started to shrink quickly.
The escaping Wood Spirit Charm had a frantic expression as it tried to distance itself from the focal point. It felt a powerful force dragging it backwards. Its speed fell lower and lower as it leaned forward and dug its feet in the ground in desperation.
But the formless force was not letting go. The giant Wood Spirit Charm, now on all fours, was plowing grooves in the ground as it was dragged back against its will.
The Wood Spirit Charm couldn't keep up, its body started to release yellow streams of earth qi as it roared in anguish.
Xu Lian turned around at the noise, he saw the earth qi stripped bare from the giant Wood Spirit Charm. Only a blob of heaven qi remained in its place like a white ghost, before it completely dissipated.
The same thing was happening to the dark tribulation clouds overhead.
Xu Lian traced the streams of qi with his eyes, from all over the blessed land the qi has gathered into a cocoon.
Rays of green and yellow light burst out in every direction.
Xu Lian covered his eyes with one hand. He saw the earth qi being devoured in front of him.
Ba-dum! Ba-dum! Ba-dum!
A strong throbbing sound could be heard.
From the yellow qi, root-like tendrils grew out. They started to take a distinct shape, like the veins and nerves of a human body.
After ten breaths of time, the phenomena came to a still. The streams of earth qi were gone. The ground no longer quaked and the winds no longer blew.
Bao Zhi stood in the air, his body encased in a brilliant aura that seemed to stretch out in all directions like an ever-expanding wave of energy.
His new body formed a perfect harmony of muscular strength and divine grace. His skin shone a radiant gold, like the sun itself, and was smooth and unblemished. His eyes were a deep and mysterious green, like two jade stones that had been polished to a perfect sheen.
His hair was long and black, flowing down to his waist like a river of ink. It framed his face, which was strong and proud, with a look of wisdom and power. His lips were full and his jaw was well defined, yet his expression was indifferent and serene.
The now white clouds parted as Bao Zhi descended in a ray of light.
Bao Zhi recited:
"One born of earth, yet soaring past the skies,
A human form, unbound by deathly ties;
A life that lived and died, then rose anew,
A spirit that defied fate's grievous view."
"No more to die, no more to suffer pain,
This body, forged of immortal's domain;
The freedom of will, so strong and pure,
A will that won't accept fate's allure."
"The cycles of life and death, I have seen,
The pain of mortality, I have been;
But I will not be tamed, I will not bend,
But instead, I will find my own end."
"I stand now, a master of my own fate,
To live, to strive, and never abate;
My will to freedom, unyielding and strong,
Defies fate and rises with a song."
The green and yellow lights gradually dissipated around him and his body's golden luster revealed a light skin beneath.
Bao Zhi finished reciting and his feet touched the ground.
"S-senior..." - Xu Lian mumbled in awe.
Xu Lian did not recognize the person before him, but he felt an indescribable closeness. He did not dare meet Bao Zhi's gaze as Bao Zhi landed in front of him.
"Rise." - A deep voice rang in Xu Lian's ears.
Xu Lian slowly stood up. The person in front of him stood eight feet tall. When he looked into the eyes of the stranger for a brief moment, he felt a chill run down his spine, for it seemed like the stranger was looking into his soul.
"Your clothes, give them to me, now." - Bao Zhi said expressionlessly.
Xu Lian quickly complied and produced some mortal clothing gu. He handed them over to Bao Zhi, who quickly used them.
Bao Zhi simply nodded, and then turned to face the horizon.
"Your calamity has been averted." - Bao Zhi stated as he slowly looked back at Xu Lian.
Xu Lian was vexed inside. He did not dare question the other party rashly. He had an immortal gu! Xu Lian didn't even have immortal essence left, not to mention he never owned an immortal gu.
"Thank you, Senior, for saving me." - Xu Lian said, bowing deeply.
"Are you not going to acknowledge your ancestor?" - Bao Zhi asked, his gaze piercing.
"Ancestor?" - Xu Lian was taken aback.
Xu Lian sank to his knees, the enormity of the situation finally sinking in.
"Yes, I acknowledge you, Ancestor." - Xu Lian's voice trembled.
"Good child." - Bao Zhi said approvingly before turning to leave.
"Ancestor! Where are you going, if I may ask?" - Xu Lian asked in a hurry. He still felt anxious about another immortal being in his blessed land.
"You have taken my arrangement. Why else would I have revived here? But it is your blessing to have me here."
Xu Lian's thoughts raced. What arrangement did he take?
"The immortal root!" - Xu Lian blurted out.
Bao Zhi nodded and then said, "Your blessed land is now my home. You shall not speak of my identity, nor will you tell anyone what I have done here today. Do you understand?"
Xu Lian nodded vigorously in agreement.
Bao Zhi sat down atop a rock not far away and started to meditate.
Xu Lian watched Bao Zhi as the immortal gu's aura slowly faded away, leaving only a faint trace of its presence in the air.
Xu Lian felt a deep sense of reverence but also some anxiety.
Bao Zhi was in a good mood. He has returned to life once again!
"This gu is truly mysterious." - He placed his hand on his chest as he felt his heart beating.
"I have not seen your true effect until today." - He smiled faintly as he looked at his new body.
When he inspected his aperture, he found that his wood path aperture was gone. It completely shattered when he detonated the bead of immortal essence inside it. At that time his human path aperture also suffered damage, but it didn't shatter. Unfortunately, his mortal gu perished in the explosion.
Bao Zhi frowned. He still only had a mortal aperture. Shouldn't he have an immortal aperture now? The immortal gu Verdant Heart Seed was not interrupted this time. Did his will deduce wrongly when it operated the refinement formation?
He sat still and closed his eyes. To his surprise he could distinctly feel Xu Lian's aura, even though he was over a hundred steps away.
"How could this be?"
He focused on this sensation. He noticed he could get a feel of Xu Lian's state. He could sense his emotions, and intentions.
"Is this because I revived using the earth qi of his blessed land?" - He guessed.
There were no others he could inspect here to compare against.
He focused back on himself. This was a mysterious feeling. He felt his senses have sharpened and his movements were fluid and effortless. He could feel the gentle pulse of his heart and the air passing through his lungs. He could feel the warmth of his skin and the sensation of his clothes against every strand of hair. He could feel the gravity on his feet and the light on his face.
He felt alive and powerful, yet completely in control. His mind felt clear and focused, as if he could think through any problem in record time. A new level of awareness connected him to the world around him, as if he could sense the energy of everything in existence.
He turned his attention to the vegetation around him, he could still feel an innate closeness, but now it wasn't exclusive to the dao marks of wood path.
"Strange."
Next, he checked the clothing gu he received from Xu Lian. Their effect was not amplified nor reduced.
"Were my suspicions right when I first revived?" - He thought excitedly.
"Verdant Heart Seed does not produce a body with wood path dao marks. It produces a body with human path dao marks!" - He realized the crux of the situation.
Why was this so shocking?
The reason was simple, there were no tribulations and calamities of human path. Accumulating human path dao marks was very troublesome. This is why there were almost no human path immortals.
"The paths of humans and heavens are in opposition. The heaven's can't act like the humans, it won't turn the balance into imbalance." - He pondered.
There were the so called human tribulations, but they were not real tribulations. Those were the scheming and actions of other people that manifested a hurdle for someone.
So it was not impossible to cultivate human path, as long as one could find a way to bypass the heaven's.
Bao Zhi was truly thrilled. He had a new way to cultivate!
"Now that I have a human path body, I should cultivate human path." - He reassessed his future plans.
Which path had better future outlooks, wood path or human path? The answer was obvious.
Bao Zhi signaled for Xu Lian.
"You called, Ancestor?" - He humbly arrived.
"Here's a list of gu I require, note them down." - Bao Zhi specified a number of various mortal gu worms one after another.
"Ancestor must be refining gu. There are some common refinement ingredients. But I don't know what he's refining, maybe it's multiple gu and not just one? But why is he not asking for the completed gu? These are just mortal gu, in the end..." - Xu Lian thought to himself.
Bao Zhi could feel the human qi around Xu Lian fluctuate as he was making his guesses. This feeling fascinated him. It wasn't like mind reading, but he could peer behind the other person's mask of attitude and tell their true feelings.
"Are you not trusting your ancestor?" - Bao Zhi probed.
Xu Lian's gaze became awkward as his thoughts were exposed. He was stumped for a moment before he could reply.
"No, it's not like that. I am just curious. I would even refine the gu for ancestor!" - He tried to explain.
Bao Zhi smiled mysteriously. He began to give Xu Lian some pointers about his wood path inheritance.
Bao Zhi knew all the Bao clan inheritances, he naturally knew the one that Xu Lian cultivated as well.
Xu Lian confirmed to himself, this person was not fooling him, it was really a big shot from Bao clan's past. His inheritance was something he couldn't improve, yet in a few words Bao Zhi made some suggestions to it.
"This junior is thankful. I won't make Ancestor wait long for the gu worms." - He cupped his fists.
"One more thing. Give me a copy of The Legends Of Ren Zu." - Bao Zhi added casually.
"Even though Ancestor is mighty, he is still humble, and looking to learn from humanity's ancestor." - Xu Lian thought to himself.
* * * * *